“Building a naval power takes generations, not so much to develop the necessary technology as to pass along the accumulated experience that creates good admirals.”

“Wars are times of intense technological transformation, because societies invest sometimes with extensive borrowing when and where matters of life and death are at stake.”

“Long-term solutions are more attractive and cause much less controversy than short-term solutions, which will affect people who are still alive and voting.”

“The threats that resurfaced in the past 10 years were not an aberration. Al Qaeda and terrorism or one such threat, but it was actually not the most serious threat that the United States faced. The...”

“Their job as leader was not to solve the problem the president really has little control over the economy but to convince the public not only that he has a plan but that he is altogether confiden...”

“While you and I are allowed the luxury of our pain, president isn't. A president must take into account how his citizens feel and he must manage them and lead them, but he must not succumb to perso...”

“Flexibility is the greatest strength.”

“What I always say is that Japanese are like willow. We can be bent easily, but once you try to break us, it would not be so easy.”

“When we arrived at my home north of the city, my five-year-old son Magnus, brimming with the confidence he'd gained in two full weeks of kindergarten, opened the front door and asked John, "Is it t...”

“Many of our most serious conflicts are conflicts within ourselves. Those who suppose their judgements are always consistent are unreflective or dogmatic.”

“When we are shown scenes of starving children in Africa, with a call for us to do something to help them, the underlying ideological message is something like: "Don't think, don't politicize, forge...”

“Der Pragmatismus ersetzt uns alles, was frher die groen Ideen, die Ideologien und Religionen, der Glaube an Friede, Menschenrechte und Demokratie zu bieten hatten. Der Pragmatismus hlt uns davon ab...”